Comment: ‘We should decolonise the curriculum’

A decolonised syllabus incorporates more expressions of thought from people of black and minority ethnicities.

This should especially be implemented in the humanities and social sciences. The curriculum needs decolonisation, as we live in 21st century multicultural Britain and not in the 18th century British Empire – unless for some reason you feel like going back?

The whole point of learning is to engage with multiple opinions and create your own judgement, especially in literature, which is written by the people, for the people, and is an overarching representation of the world in its current state.

So why then is it that we are only fed a certain point of view, and why is only that considered the valid or ‘canonical’ one? Decolonisation will decrease the damaging process of ‘othering’ and dismantle understandings of ‘us’ and ‘them’.

The desire to decolonise the curriculum is not because we are just upset. Upset is when your football team loses a match, or when someone steps on your new trainers.

Expanding the curriculum is a form of empowerment, and a way to ask for more, as what we have for representation is either one-dimensional or very scarce.